Bringing in the new may be a good way to describe 2007 for Jacksonville State
University. Enrollment was up, new buildings opened and a new paperless system
of enrollment was put into place.

“I want to thank our staff, faculty and students for being very patient with
our big system change this year, which is Banner,” said Dr. William Meehan,
president of JSU.

The system has had its problems as students, faculty and parents adjust to
the paperless system, but Meehan believes most of the bugs are in the past and
looks forward to working with Banner.

“If you’ve been following the student newspaper, the students have been
having fun with cartoons,” said Meehan. “It has been a challenge, but I
appreciate everyone’s patience and it will work out fine.”

Construction on two buildings was completed in 2007 and began on a third.

The Gladys M. Carlisle Applied Arts Facility gave the art department some
much-needed room as well as a nice place to work.

“The Carlisle building was a wonderful addition, with that program putting
our faculty and students in a very safe facility for operating our kiln and
other art and ceramics. Having a home for our photography lab and computer
graphics lab was very nice,” said Meehan. “It helped us meet our accreditation
standards for National Association of Schools of Art and Design.”

Atop Chimney Peak sits the university’s new observatory, which only lacks the
installation of a computer system before it is fully operational.

“I wish I could tell you that it was absolutely finished and up and ready for
stellar observations. The computer is not yet attached, but the telescope is
there,” said Meehan. “Hopefully by spring we’ll have the software.”

While the two buildings were getting their finishing touches, a large area
was cleared for the JSU Field Schools at Little River Canyon. The building,
which will be known as the Little River Canyon Center, will house offices for
the National Park Service as well as space for instructors and students from
JSU.

“We hope to have that facility completed this next year and I’m just so
excited,” said Meehan. “When you walk in the middle of that facility and you’re
in this giant atrium, you look up and see the beautiful timbers and then you
look out and see that beautiful view, it’s just inspirational.”

With 9,077 students, enrollment for the fall semester of 2007 was the second
highest in the history of JSU.

“The largest increase in first time and freshman students since 1989,” said
Meehan of the numbers.

The dorms at JSU were a reflection of the number of students as the school
saw most of its housing at or near capacity. In response, they began to make
plans for the future.

“We’ve now refurbished the majority of our dormitories. We have a few of our
apartments left to refurbish, but they’re in good shape. We’re making plans for
new dormitories because that’s what students want. We can increase our
enrollment, I firmly believe that if we increase our housing that we’ll get more
students and that will help us achieve our goal of 10,000 students,” said
Meehan.

The current bond on the universities dorms will be paid off toward the end of
2008, freeing funds to invest in new on-campus housing.

Two new courses of study were also added to the school’s curriculum in 2007 –
a minor in coaching and a new concentration in sports administration within the
Masters in Public Administration.

“Of course, what we’re doing more often is taking our programs and putting
them in distance learning format,” said Meehan. “We have more than 14 degree
programs in distance learning.”

JSU continues to look for the future in its finances as well. The school’s
capital campaign, which ends in December 2008, is nearing its $25 million goal.
Over 19.6 million has already been raised and plans are to use the funds on new
academic buildings and scholarships among other capital projects.

About Jennifer Bachus

Jennifer Bacchus is a staff writer at The Jacksonville
News. She can be reached at 256-435-5021 or via e-mail at jbacchus@jaxnews.com

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